Bill would give diplomas to students who fail state exit exam

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Veronica Santana (cq) has her San Leandro High School graduation ceremony at Cal State East Bay where she will attend college next semester. Photographed in Hayward on 6/12/07. Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle Mandatory credit for photographer and San Francisco Chronicle. No Sales/Magazines out. less

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Veronica Santana (cq) has her San Leandro High School graduation ceremony at Cal State East Bay where she will attend college next semester. Photographed in Hayward on 6/12/07. Deanne ... more

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice

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Yolanda Christopher mother of Olajuwon Clayborn, holds on to balloons with her sons nickname printed on them as she watches the senior class of Castlemont High School graduate, Friday June 14, 2013, in Oakland Calif. Olajuwon was expected to graduate with the Class of 2013, but was shot to death outside his home on May 5. less

Yolanda Christopher mother of Olajuwon Clayborn, holds on to balloons with her sons nickname printed on them as she watches the senior class of Castlemont High School graduate, Friday June 14, 2013, in Oakland ... more

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Bill would give diplomas to students who fail state exit exam

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For 10 years, the California High School Exit Exam has tripped up thousands of students who, because they couldn’t pass the math and English test, didn’t get diplomas.

A bill before the Legislature could make many of them high school graduates after all. The measure, Senate Bill 172, would suspend the decade-old graduation requirement for three years and specifically and retroactively includes the class of 2015.

State officials and education interest groups say the test is no longer aligned with what is taught in schools since the state adopted the new Common Core standards, which emphasize critical thinking rather than rote learning.

But if the exit exam is suspended, students who didn’t pass it and didn’t graduate in previous years could pursue diplomas, arguing they meet the graduation requirements as of Jan. 1, 2016, when the measure would go into effect.

That means it could apply to anyone who didn’t graduate because of the exit exam, going back possibly to 2006, when the first class was required to pass it, said Keric Ashley, deputy superintendent at the state Department of Education.

“If a student does not have a high school diploma, he or she can at any age approach the kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) district of residency to obtain an education leading to a high school diploma,” according to the state Department of Education. “The K-12 school district of residency has the option to place a student age 18 or older in an appropriate program.”

Those students have to adhere to local district graduation requirements and policies, but the exit exam would no longer be part of that, Ashley said.

“They wouldn't be earning a 2003 diploma, they would be earning a 2015” diploma, Ashley said, adding there are still a lot of questions about process and procedures. “Our recommendation would be for school districts to contact their own legal offices.”

Many chances to pass

The bill’s author, however, has a different take.

There is no intent to grandfather in years before the class of 2015, said Robert Oakes, spokesman for state Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County).

“If you didn’t pass it, you didn’t pass it,” Oakes said.

Supporters considered the exit exam an academic benchmark, ensuring high school graduates could demonstrate a minimum level of knowledge and skills — which included algebra and 10th grade content in English. About 75 percent of 10th-graders taking it for the first time typically passed it, and more than 95 percent of recent graduating classes passed by the end of senior year.

Yet state law never set a limit on how many times a student — or former student — could try to pass the exam.

Oakes said a student from the class of 2012, who hasn’t passed the math portion of the exam but has kept trying, called Liu’s office, saying she wanted to keep trying to get her diploma.

Such students have had many, many chances to pass, starting in their sophomore year, Oakes said.

“If you didn’t pass it five years ago, it’s not our problem,” he said.

By his logic the bill would take away something many students before the class of 2015 have taken for granted — that they could keep trying to pass the test to get a diploma.

Those students could pursue a diploma at the several community colleges across the state that offer an adult high school diploma program. Those don’t include passing the exit exam, but do require students to enroll and pass several courses at the colleges to fulfill residency requirements.

Previous students

Yet former high school students who already completed courses and credits have had an open-ended opportunity to pass the exit exam — through district independent study programs or adult school, for example — and the legislation would strip them of that opportunity.

Wouldn’t that be unfair?

“That is a good question,” said Rick Pratt, chief consultant for the state Assembly Education Committee, who provided a legislative analysis of the measure. “That’s a good question that this bill avoided.”

The proposed law is clear on the fate of the class of 2015, though. Anyone who didn’t graduate because of the exit exam would get a diploma if the legislation gets the governor’s signature.

An estimated 230 students are in that situation in Oakland and 175 in San Francisco, where district officials would love to see the measure pass.

“Certainly any awarding of diplomas, we'd probably be looking at having some kind of ceremony and inviting those families,” said John Burke, supervisor for the San Francisco Unified School District’s Assessment Office. “We know who the students are who haven't graduated because of (the exit exam). We know who they are all the way back to the beginning.”

The legislation is expected to make it through the Legislature to the governor’s desk by the end of the session in September. If it doesn’t pass, the state would renew its contract with the testing agency and start administering the exam again, Ashley said.

The measure would also require a state study group to come up with recommendations about how students can prove they have a minimum level of knowledge and skills to graduate, either through an exam or using other methods.

Waiting for results

In the meantime, students from the class of 2015 — and those back to 2006 — will have to wait to see if a diploma is within reach.

“We are all taking a wait-and-see approach,” Ashley said. “Everyone, the state board, the superintendent, the Legislature, understands that there are certain students out there who are waiting for the results of this.”